The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, July 24, 1889, Image 1
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BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1889. VOLUME XXXIV.;:-NOr;9r ffj
If Ca::not Last Forever.
I've a word of com lor t lor you
Who on lii'o s rugged road
Are toiling 'neath the burden
Of a heavy, hopeless load;
It will make your heart grow lighter.
Whatever !>< your wroag,
And give you .strength to boar it,
If yon lake these words si Ion*;,
And say whi n clouds of darkness
Around your pathway hover,
"The sun Is shining just buyond.
It cannot last forever."
Just try then when you are wearied
By each petty care and strife.
By each little aggravat ion
Ot your common daily lite;
When angry words urt- rlstsiss.
That you can scarcely smother,
And everything seems "t wisted up,"
And tied in knots to bother,
You'll tind these words are like a knife.
Each twisted knot to sever;
Then straighten out each tangle with
"It cannot last lorever."
Or if some great disaster
Li ke a cyclone sweep your sky,
And stunned and helpless with the shock
Beneath the wreck yon lie. j
Remember that no storm comes
But Las a clearing day;
The darkest night a morning,
An end the longest way;
Then tnke these words to cheer you,
You'll find them like a le%*er
To raise your sinking spirits up.
"It cannot last forever."
lii i..v M. Alkxandkx.
A Tiuie for all Thiugs.
Timeliness is as important as fitness.
The right thing? may become wrong i
unless it is done in the right time. |
Look well to the time of doing any-1
thing; there is a time for all things.
Choose the right time for sayingthings.
If your wife looks wearied and worn
out, be sure it is not the right time to
tell her that the dinner is not hot, or
that the bread is sour. Comfort her?
cheer her up.
If you are annoyed or vexed at people,
just remember it is not the right
time to speak. Close your mouth?
shut your teeth together firmly, and
it will save you many a useless and unavailing
regret and many a bitter enemy.
If you happen to feel a little cross?
and who aoiong us does not at some
time or other ??do not select that season
for reproving your noisy household
flock. One word spoken in passion
will make a scar that a summer of
smiles can hardly heal over.
If you are a wife, never tea.se your
husband when he conies home, weary,
from his day's business. It is not the I
right time' * Do not ask him for expensive
outlays when he lias been talking
about hartl times?it is, most assuredly
the wrong time.
If he has entered upon an undertaking
against your advice, do not seize
on the moment of its failure to say, "I
told you so!" Infact.it is never the
right time for those four monosyllables.
O, if people only knew enough to
discriminate between the right time
and the wrong, there would be less domestic
unhappiness, less silent sorrow
and less estrangement of heart. The
greatest calamities that overshadow |
our lives have sometimes their germ in
matters as apparently slight as this.'
If you would only pause, reader, before
the stinging taunt, or the biting
sneer, or the unkind scofl'passes your
l>ps?pause just long enough to ask
yourself, "Is it the right time for me to
speak?" you would shut the door
against many a heartache.
The world hinges on little things,
and there arc many more trivial than
the right time and the wrong.
Parasites of Speech.
The duty each of us owes to his
uliniild fnnstrsiin hini to
seek diligently after the best ways of
clothing ideas. If there is a better
fashion of speech than our own, we
should not be content until it is ours.
Slovenly language is more disgraceful
than slovenliness of apparel. The
great and grievous error in home and
school education is that children are
allowed to speak as they like. The
house-mother who wages continual
war with flies, barricades her windows
against mosquitoes, and would go into
hysterics at the suggestion of the red
Bedouin of the sleeping-room, allows
her children to double negatives, contract
provincialisms, and enwrap their
daily talk in slang as with a garmeut.
She was a wise woman who insisted
that her children should give neat and
definite expression to what they had
in their minds to say. If they began a
sentence it must be finished.
"What you think, you can say,"
was her rule. "The sooner you learn
to say it well the better."
It goes without saying that as men
and women they were admirable talki
ers, never taking refuge in "What-youmay-call-'ems"
and "I-don't-kiiowwhats,"
"You-knows" and "It-seemsto-mes."
The pains given to the cultivation of
the parasitical gibberish we call
"slang," if rightly bestowed, would
make charming talkers of our boys
1 rn.??
auu ^11 ir?. i in'ic in ct? nuiu ??u a.*?
euphouy in willful mispronunciation
of words, nor does the substitution of
cabalistic phrases for intelligible English
add piquancy to sentence or paragraph.
If the truth were known,
few slang-venders are on sufficiently
intimate terms with their mothertoncue
to take liberties with her.
Marlon JTarhmd, in " The llomcMakcr.
Scientific men in Mexico are beginning
to study the meteorological phenomena
which aro believed to lie due to
the building of railways in the country.
Recent serious damage done by washouts
on the northern section of the
Mexican Central road was due to waterspouts
bursting on the track, and it is
a curious fact that waterspouts seem to
be attracted by the iron track and telegraph
wires. Residents of the interior
say that an electric current runs along
the track, which makes a convenient
avenue for storms, and recently, in
building the Guadalajara branch of
the Mexican Central, it has been noted
by the engineers that as fast as the construction
advances rain follows. They
hold that this is due to the large quantity
of steel rails on flat cars, which are
carried forward as fast as the work of
construction permits. The most, no
ticeaoie iact is mat tue country is orv
in advance of the construction trains,
and also beliind them for many miles.
Rains beat down, as described, in bueketfuls,
just where the sfeel rails are, but
only in circles a few miles in diameter.
He is a careful man, and does not
like to be unprepared for possible emergencies.
While in a strange hotel in
the provinces, a few months ago, he
discovered, just before extinguishing
the light in his room, that there were
only four matches in the match-box.
"If I awake at night," he thought,
"and these matches are wet. what shall
I do?" "Whereupon lie tested them
one by one, blew them out in turn,aud
tranquilly laid him down to rest.
.
cran-'A aBMy^gMBttag^BaiaBBMMBwaaBgiawgioMww ??
I
rat's Prompt Iieply.
Kciio was a mountain nymph in the
old poetic days, but modern realism
has changed her into an Irishman. At
least the quests of a (ieorgia colonel
must, have concluded so. Col. Ogeeciiee
has a very remarkahle echo on
his place a few miles from this city :
one, in fact, which would clearly repeat
whole sentences.
The gentlemen to whom this assertion
was made were interested, hut incredulous,
and arranged to accompany
Col. Ogeechee home the next afternoon
to test the wonderful echo. The
colonel found, on getting home, that
in the heat of the discussion he had
claimed more than facts justified. Determined
not to he beaten, lie called
his Irish laborer. ,
"Pat," says he, "some gentlemen are
coming home with me to-morrow afternoon
to hear the echo. Now, I
want you to go across the river before
time forme to arrive, so you can answer
back whatever we may call out."
"You mane for me to play ikker,
sorr?" asked Pat, grinning.
"That's it exactly," said the colonel.
"Now do you thoroughly understand
that you are to answer back exactly
what we say?"
"Oh, yis, sorr; ye can depind on me
entoirely."
Next afternoon the colonel took his
I friends to t.ne river ihuik, ami an ?cic
ready for the experiment.
Making ii speaking trumpet of his
hands, the colonel roared :
"Are you there?"
Back came the echo"-with startling
distinctness:
"Yis, sorr; O've been here since four
iiv the clock."?Savannah Xcivs.
What Our Ex-President's Have Done.
George Washington retired from the
Presidency to become a fanner.
John Adams devoted himself to
writing history.
Thomas Jefl'erson applied himself to
establishing a public school system in
Virginia and also managed his farm.
James Madison spent his old age
reading in his library.
James Monroe wrote a philosophical
history of free government, and managed
"his estates. He served in the
Virginia Constitutional Convention
and was also a Justice of the Peace.
John Quincy Adams was sent to
Congress after his retirement from the)
White House, receiving his nomination
and election from the anti-Mason I
party.
Jackson was very old, but managed
his large farm in Tennessee until his
death.
Martin Van Buren made a tour
thvonsrii TCurone. and lived in retire
UK'lit at Lindeuwald on the Hudson.
General Harrison died in otlice.
Fillmore went back to Buffalo after
making a journey to Europe. He
practiced law slightly.
Franklin Pierce made a three-years
tour of Europe, and then retired to his
home 111 Concord, New Hampshire.
James Buchanan retired to his home
at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and spent
his old age amidst his books and in
historical writing.
Lincoln, it was said, intended to
make his home in Chicago and practice
law.
General Grant undertook to become
a banker and investor in New York
City.
Hayes returned to his Ohio farm,
ami is celebrated in raising Jersey
cows and poultry.
Garfield intended, sometime after
his term was over, to write a political
history.
Arthur had begun to practice law
again.
Ex-President Cleveland has resumed
the law.
He Killed Him.
Mr. J. R. Gilmore relates that on
one occasion, during the civil war, ne
was riding in a railway train, and had
fallen lialf asleep, when somebody laid
a hand on his shoulder and said:
"Don't want ter 'sturb yer, stranger,
but there aint nary 'nother sittin'
place in the whole kear." The speaker
was a man of about 40 years, whose
strange clothing at once attracted Mr.
Cihnore's attention?the gray uniform
of a Confederate officer, and in the
coat, just over the heart, a round hole
scorched at the edges and stained with
blood. He proved to be a Union
scout.
"How could you manage to live
with such a hole there?" asked Mr.
Gilmore.
"Oh, I warn't inside of 'em just
then, though I warrant he war a likely
fel'er, that war. I ortent ter 'a' done
hit. but I bed ter. This war Ije."
He took out of his poeket a small
miniature. It was a plain circlet of
gold attached to a piece of blue ribbon.
One side of the rim was slightly clipped,
and the upper portion of the ivory
was stained with blood ; but enough
of it was unobseured to show me the
features of a young man, with a full,
frank, manly face.
With a feeling akin to horror, I was
handing the picture back to the scout,
when, in low, stammering tones, he
said: " 'Tother side, sir. Luk at
'tother side."
I turned it over and saw the portrait
of a young woman, scarcely more than
seventeen, a most beautiful and eugaginir
fare.
With intense loathing I turned upon
the scout, and exclaimed : "And you
killed that man ?"
"Yes, sir, CJod forgive me! T clone
hit. But 1 couldn't holp hit. He had
me down : he'd cut me thav," turning
up his sleeve and showing a deep
wound in his arm. "an' thar," removing
the bandage and displaying a long
gash back of his ear.
"His arm wusriz ter strike agin ; in
another minute he'd hev cluv my
brain. I seed hit, sir, an' I fired. ("Jod
forgive me. T fired! T wouldn't 'a'
done hit ef I'd knowed th"t," and he
looked down upon the face of the
sweet young girl, and the moisture
came into his eyes. "I'd hev shot 'im
somewhat* but yere, somewhar but i
ycre!" and laying his hand over the)
rent in his coat, he groaned as if he
felt the wound.
With that Mood stained miniature
in mv hand, and listening to the broken
words of that ignorant scout, I realized
the horrible barbarity of war.
Youth's Companion.
When Phillips Brooks rose last Sunday
to give out his text, "I was in a
prison, and ye came unto me," a little
ellow, five or six years old looked up
anxiously into his grandma's face, as
ln> exclaimed in n hoarse whisper,
plainly audible to those in the adjacent
seals, "Cramlma. was Mr. Brooks
ever really in prison'."'
. ' : V ' . ' .. ,, .
a; *. >.z
Teach Girls to Thiuli.
Said a mother to me one day:
"What preliminary course of study
would you advise a young lady to pursue
who anticipates learning some business
or profession ?" 1 answered :
"Lei her study everything winch
will teach her how to think. Good
judgment, and the intelligence that
comes from a mind that lias been not
merely crammed with knowledge, hut
developed, are the qualities most highly
prized, and unfortunately most
difficult to lind not only in women,
but ill men. This, doubtless, is due III
great measure to our imperfect system
of education."
Teachers of stenography lind this
the greatest difficulty to contend with
in preparing their pupils for positions.
While there are very few who cannot
learn how to write short-hand, twothirds
of those who take up this study
are obliged to abandon it because their
reasoning powers, and consequently
judgment, have not been sufficiently
[trained to enable them to read their
notes intelligently. This same lack of
judgment is met within every department
of business. So much is this the
case, people have sometimes been led
| to the fallacious conclusion that men
| will succeed better hi business it tliey
start life with little or no education.
The trouble is, that people have not
been educated too much for business,
[but that they have been educated in
the wrong way.
Mary F. Seymour, in Iiuslness Woj
man's Journal.
?<&>
In the education of a colt or a filly,!
the same care is needed as that of a
child. The disposition should be studied,
and defects eradicated by kind yet
firm treatment. At present, if a foal
is of a lively temperament, it is at once
put down as vicious, arid if either of
its parents have showed what is miscalled
vice, the result of mistaken
brutality in their education, then the
foal's liveliness is put down as hereditary
vice, and a prolonged course of
harsh conduct and beating is deemed
necessary to efTect a cure. Tf. on the
other hand, the young animal is of a
slow and heavy nature, it is erroneously
supposed to be the result of vicious
sullenness, and the same treatment as
in the ease of the lively foal is undertaken?harsh
treatment and beating
to brine: them into so-called subjection.
In each case this cruel discipline had
just the opposite efTect to that sought,
and hence we have sadly too many
kicking, biting, jibbing and bolting
horses. In place of having horses
which entertain affection for man we
have them 111 constant fear ot man,
ever expectant of a blow, and their
worst actions, often leading up to accident
or death, arc too often the result
of this fear; possibly some movement
of the driver not connected with them
being misconstrued into the intention
to inflict a blow. In the breaking
and education of all young animals
firmness should blend 'with kindness,
but never with harshness or brutality.
? - - T
knew a little boy whose heart was
touched by a sermon on the words,
,lBehold, I stand at the door, and
knock." My mothersaid to him when
she noticed that he was anxious:
"Robert, what wftuld you say to any
one who knocked at the door of your
heart, if you wished him to come in?"
He answered: "I'd say, 'Come
in.' "
She then said to him : "Then say
to the Lord Jesus. 'Come in.' "
The next morning there was a
brightness and jov about Robert's face
that made my father ask :
"Robert, what makes you look so
glad and joyful to-day?"
He replied, joyfuliy : "I awoke in
the night, and I feit that Jesus Christ
was still knocking at the door of my
heart for admittance into it. I said
to Him, 'Lord Jesus, come in!' I
think He has come into my heart. I
feel happier this morning than I ever
_ii !:< - unrrrotainl
was m an ujy inc. u?? uiigtmviu.
ami wicked in me to keep Him waiting
outside so long!"?Selected.
Truth is beautiful as well as safe and
mighty. In the incident related below,
a'boy twelve years old, with only
truth as a weapon, conquered a smart
and shrewd lawyer who was fighting
for a bad cause.
"Truth is the highest thing man
may keep," and the noblest child or
man is he who keeps the truth ever between
his lips.
Walter was the important witness in
a law suit. One of the lawyers, after
cross questioning him severely, said,?
"Your father has been talking to
you and telling you how to testify,
hasen't he?"
"Yes," said the boy.
"Now," said the lawyer, "just tell
us how your father told you to testify."
"Well," said the boy, modestly, "father
told me that the lawyers "would
try and tangle me in my testimony;
but, if I would just be careful and tell
the truth, I could tell the same thing
every time."
The lawyer didn't try to tangle up
that boy any more.?Exchange.
The world loves to laugh and just as
the week ends the German portion of
Europe is convulsed over the following
paragraph, which narrates, it is said,
an actual occurrence. "Trichina isstill
I <i.. .1 l,..l i... rpi,^ l.,f_
jrri'IIlljy Ull'ilUHi \iy \ 11*1 ui.tiin. i iivt it11est
case is tin odd one. A peasant was
arrested for not having liis pips examined
before selling tlioir pork. 'Oil,'
he said, 'lint that's not. necessary. I
have a perfectly certain method of
settling my pips' condition.' Under
fear of punishment, lie stated that his
pastor was always hungry, so he makes
up the first sausage from each pip for
him and sends it as a present. 'I
know he eats it at once. Then after a
week I go and inquire about his health,
if he is well T can safely sell the pork,
and can save examination fees too.' "
From Oregon comes this little item,
which may he called "Childish lleasouiugon
a Childish Doctrine
The following was told me by a
friend Hie other day: Her lit tie sister,
of four or live summers, who was visiting
her, has lived much alone with
lather ami mother in (lie big wood,
lias learned to talk to herself, and has
an extensive imagination. She had
evidently heard some one talk on
"Christian .Science." Her sister happened
to overhear this bit of her
"thinking out aloud
" I see a great big black dog?O, a
] beautiful dog! And see! There is a
lot of little dogs running after him
tjust as hard as they can. Hut, then,
j he don't mind it; they don't hurt him,
because he is a C/irisfian ,S'c.iciicc do//."
Let us live better today than we did
yesterday.
'' '5 * , i H -
Tlio American Revolution.
I:V .milX 1JKM.MKNWAV.
[ have said that some of the best of
the American people were conscientioii.-ly
opposed lo the war. They honestly
believed the. war to he unwise,
al'il they had certainly as high :i regard
to their own welfare and of their
children's and of their country as
those who favored the war, and they
felt that they had from God a perfect
light to pronounce the war unnecessary
and unjust, and yet they were
cruelly abused by the Whig party and
some of them were driven from home
and native land. War allows 110 liberty
of property or of speech, nor of
person, nor of life. War is virtually
licensed and organized cannibalism,
with the ferocity of the tiger. Shall
not war give place to peace? Christains,
here is work for your prayers,
philanthropists for your tears, speakers
for your voices, philosophers for
your pens, and all of you, rich and
poor, for your money.
Let all men and women look to the
God of peace who is tlie Cod of love,
and meekly invoking the un^ed pew
ers of reasou ami common pJuiar.uiropy
and the Christian religon, say to
the pool>le and nations of the earth,
"Vou can and you must, beat your
swords into plowshares, by the power
of a philanthropic arbitration, and
learu war no more.
But I perceive I am digressing from
my especial subject at the present
time, which is a brief review of the
expediency, justice and consequences
of the American Revolutionary War.
As to the bad consequences of the
war, they have been many and
mighty, and, alas! their measure is
not full. They will stretch through
time and live in eternity. When man
takes the sword to accomplish a good
purpose the best apology he can give
must be this, "I intend to do evil that
good may come," which is a base and
bold insult to Christianity.
It is generally admitted by all intelligent
readers'of history that the
American Revolution, if not the]
main producing cause of the French
Revolution, had a powerful influence
in widening its extent and in inincreasing
the intensity of its flaming
ferocity. Goodrich, the historian, says:
"The revolution in France commenced
about the year 17Si?. It seems to hayte
be?n hastened or brought on by the
new ideas of freedom which had been
imbibed by the French army in the
United States, and thence disseminated
among the people of France."
The French Revolution as is well
known gave birth to Napolcan Bonat?
i.;_ ..
parte, who oy jus imwci ??<< uimi ui
war overthrew or shook to their centers
all thrones and governments of
continental Europe. From the dreadful
desolations of that horrible drama
of destruction, suffering slaughter, and
crime Europe has not yet recovered ;
and when she will, if ever, is known
only to Him who sees the end of all
things, past, present, and to come.
How wretched is the condition of the
greater part of Europe now compared
to what it was before the barbarous
bloodshedding and destruction which
began in Paris wifTt the French Revolution
in 178'J and closed at Waterloo
in 1S15.
I will quote from that eminent English
historian, Allison, as to the moral
and political condition of Europe
just before the difficulties of the American
people with the government of
(5reat .Britain previous to the Revolutionary
War.
Allison, in his history of modern
Europe, says: "A spirit of gentleness
prevaded the political world, t he effect
of increasing knowledge and long Continued
prosperity., Even the most
despotic empires'were ruled with a
lenity unknown in former times.
Jiion tlm termination of the ireil
eral war of 1763 a growing spirit of
improvement had prevailed the European
States, and repeatedly called forth
the praise of contemporary annalists.
Agriculture had risen into universal
esteem; kings were setting the example
of cultivating the soil, and a large
portion of the nohility were everywhere
lending their aid to improve
this first and best of human pursuits.
The haughtiness and pride of aristocratic
birth was gradually yielding to
the influence of extending wants and
an enlarged commerce; and in many
of the European States the highest
ollices under government were held by
persons of piebian birth. Toleration
all over Europe had spread to a degree
urknown in former times. All the
remaining vestiges of that fierce spirit
which sullied with barbarism the lofty
and romantic courtesy of ancient
manners were gradually softening
awayand the flames of religious
zeal, which for two centuries had so
often kindled the torch of civil discord,
were sunk into ashes. Every
succeeding generation was of a character
milder and gentler than the last.
There was a diffusion of liberality that
was beginning to pervade the mass of
mankind. The diversified classes of
society harmonized with each other in
a way hitherto unknown ; and whatever
might be the peculiarities of particular
constitutions a sweeter blood
seemed in all to circulate through
every member of the political body.
The lowest of the people under governments
the most despotic no longer
held their countenances prone to the
carlh, but were (aught l<? civet (hem
with :i becoming sense of their, own
nature, and the brow of authority,
instead of an austere frown, wore a
more inviting air of eoinplaceney and
amenity."
Now, let it not be forgot ten (bat all
these pleasing eondit ions and prospects
were dissipated by the savage power of
the French .Revolution and Ihe Kuropeau
wars caused thereby, which revolution
and wars were produced, in tbe
course of events, if not solely yet in a
great measure, by tbe American JJevolutionary
War.
Another lamentable eflect of that
war is seen in its corrupting influences
upon tbe morals of the American
people. Let me introduce the testimony
of, not the enemies, but the
friends of the war?persons who were
sincere Christians, but alas! very
blind and inconsistent Christians. A
New England religious association
issued a pamphlet during the progress
of the war setting forth the vices occasioned
by it?a war which many at
the present time consider so holy and
so blessed in its influences that it is a
sin or a want of patriotism to question
its justice or even to contemplate the
moral evils resulting therfrom.
That association of Christians say,
referring to the bad effects of the war,
"Tbe pro fa nest anguage is become
tbe fashionable dialect. T1 y ohuth
that was hred in innocence and was
never known to defile his tongue with
a profane oath in his life no sooner yets
w.' v .* , /-J";- '
on hoard a privateer or lias spent a few
days in a camp than \vu find him
learned in all the languages of hell.
The most horrid oaths and infernal
curses load and taint the air about
him, and this language passes current
as the graces of conversation, as a
polish of style that should stiflice to
class him a'fine gentleman. Benevolence
to our fellow men was-perhaps
never less cultivated in any country
than of late among us. Hard hearted
indifference to the poor, the widow,
and the orphan, has risen lip among us
and seized her throne. Pride and
false honor have disgraced our armies
with the barbarous practice of duelling;
and friends have imbrued their
hands in the blood of friends. Avarice
stalks the streets, or lurks in the
corners, and has stained the public
roads with inhuman murders. Fraud
and oppession sweep all before them,
while debauchery and vice fill both
town and country; private robbery,
thefts, and burglaries abound more and
more. Intemperance, also has become
sadly common among the men, and
this monster, not content with human
sacrifices among the meu, and
with makiug shipwreck of many
professors of religion, too, lias begun
to ravage and destroy even the gentler
sex. It is well known that this period
never had its parallel in America
for the prevalence of all the vices of
sensuality. Adulteries are excused
under the name of gallantries."
The reader will notice that intemperance
is spoken of as one of the vices
resulting from the war. The late Dr.
Beckwith says; "It is well known that
the war of our Revolution was the
starting point, the great fountain of
our national intemperance."
?
How to be Ifnppy Though Married.
This is fPhackneyed subject, I grant
you, but not more hackneyed, I am
sure you wijl allow, than the unhappiness
of homes. We are told that
"God settetli the solitary in families,"
hut surely when we look around
among our friends and acquaintances
we see many marriages that can not be
heaven's making. It takes a good deal
of that charity or love that "seeketh
not her own" to insure happiness in
any state, and especially in the married
state.
"My children." said a white-haired
father, as he bade good-by to his new'y-married
daughter and her husband,
"you will be happy just so Jong as you
each seek the happiness of the other
instead of your own." There you
have the whole secret in a nutshell.
"But," asks a sadfaced wife, "suppose
you nave always inea 10 iiiuive jour
husband happy, without having jrotir
ellbrts recognized or appreciated?"
Then, I fear, you can only find your
own happiness in the consciousness of
having done your duty ; and, believe
me, it will be a greater and higher
happiness than you can find by neglecting
it for a vaiu search after your
own pleasure, {seeking the happiness
of a husband or wife does not always
mean that you must bear injustice and
ill-treatment in silence. Selfishness
and its twin brother thoughtlessness
are two of the greatest evils that married
people have to contend \yith. If
you find them to be the besetting sins
of your husband, and that you can not
shame him out of them by your generous
conduct, see if his past training
has not had something to do with it;
don't let it run on; you will have
more influence to correct it during
your honeymoon than you will later.
Perhaps he has been the only son of a
doting and unwise mother. I once
knew of such a case, where a gentle
man of noble and generous impulses
hail had Ins home-life so narrowed by
his early training that when he married
he allowed his wife to fall into the
same state of servitude that his mother
had held before her. To my mind
she was rather the more to be blamed
of the two, only?poor woman?she
erred in kindness and ignorance. Fifteen
years of this servitude opened her
eyes to the fact that she had been
wrong, but it was too late then to repair
the wrong. All unconsciously he
had grown to feel a contempt for the
womau who could so lavishly yield to
his slightest and most unreasonable
whim.
A young friend of mine without a
single penny by way of a marriage
portion wedded a gentleman of means
somewhat older than herself. There
was a true foundation of love and respect,
but the husband, having been
taught to believe that all women were
extravagant and not to be trusted in
money matters, made his wife no allowance,
and exacted from her an account
of all she spent. .Being a woman
of high and generous impulses,
she could not brook this, and
while yet 011 their honeymoon one day
called him to her side and asked him
to make her a regular allowance. "I
want a certain sum of money that T
can call my own," said this intrepid
wife. "It need not he large, but if it is
only live dollars a month [ want it to
be my very own, and I wish never to
feel obliged to give you an account of
it." Like a wise man as he was, he
succumbed to the inevitable, made her
a handsome allowance, and thus one
of the worst perils of matrimony was
"VV1*/-*** T omninnnili'd 111V
iivumru, iivu i ?t,
friend for her courage, si 10 said : "All
my life [ had seen my mother sulfur
from (his same trait in my father. A
man of great generosity outside of his
family, he never allowed my mother a
dollar of pocket money, and when prefect
I y reasonable hills were presented
to him for payment, there was always
a scene. Had mamma taken a firm
stand in the early days of her married
life, we should have been.a much happier
family."
Doii'l condemn your husband as ungenerous
until you have presented
your reasonable requirements in the
most tactful way and failed. If you
do fail, in ibis or other matters, ?.s I
said before, resolve, (?od helping you,
to do your own duty, and to so train
your boys that your daughters-in-law
shall rise up and call you blessed.
in the midst of many conneet.ional
and local church interests, the superannuated
preachers are liable to be
neglected. They have a claim on the
Church second to no other. There is
no organized society with secretaries
and agents to champion their cause
and keep the facts which would call
forth liberal contributions before the
Church. But their silence and their ;
need are eloquent.' Let one day be devoted
to the veterans, not merely for <
the sake of the memory to be collected i
and the want to be relieved and the
comfort to be imparted, but t'j inspire i
the Church with the spirit of Christian
heroism in which these self-deny- i
ing pioneers toiled. We have entered i
into I heir labors. I jet us also enter in- <
to sympathy with them.
Serins: Faults.
How easy it is tor us to see the good
side of our own faults, and the bad side
of faults that are not ours?or that we
do not suppose to be ours! If we have
to admit that we are close-fisted, we console
ourselves with the thought that
that is better than to be a spendthrift.
If we see that we are unable to be wisely
frugal with our means, we say that
it all events wc are not miserly. If
we find that we am lacking in a readiness
to speak hearty words of praise
where they are duo, wc are careful to
have it understood that we are not
given to llattery, and that it is always
better to say too little than too much
by way of praise to any person. If
our impulse is to multiply inconsiderate
words of admiration and of approval
whenever an occasion offers, we
think that that at least is preferable to
holding back from out-apoken commendation,
when that is in order.
And so it-is all along the scale of faults
and follies. This is perfectly Datural;
and it is as wrong as it is natural.
The last thing that any one of us
ought to do is to emphasize the better
side of his own lack. It mav do for
others to do this in our behalf; but it
is not the tiling for us to do. Our way
ought rather to be that of bringing into
prominence the better side of faults
to which we are not ourselves prone,
and the worst side of those to which
we are addicted* If we are close-fisted,
we ought to feel that it would be a
great deal better to be thoughtlessly
generous than to be mean. If we are
too open-handed, we ought to confess
that over-frugality is a vast improvement
on recklessness in outlay. If
we are stinted in our words of praise,
we owe it to our better nature to say
that there is less excuse for this fault
than for that of profuse flattery. If
we are inclined to be flatterers, it Is
our duty to insist that saying nothing
is better than saying too much. This,
way would at least tend to correction
of our faults, as the others way surely
tends to confirm them. But a better
way than either of these two would be
to recognize the truth that between
two evils one ought to choose?neither.
If it be Scylla oil the one baud and
Charybdis on the other, the safer course
is in mid-channel.
Are We (ironing Better?
There is no doubt but what the
churches are growing, and it cannot be
denied that the gospel is being preached
to more people than at any former
period of the world's history ; but it is
not certain that, with all the superior
advantages which this age enjoys, the
world is getting any better.
If one will take the time to glance
over the world and see what iuflUence,
control men, he will be astonished perhaps
at linding that even the so called
Christian people are, everywhere,
"walking in the counsel of the ungodly."
Tha ball room the card table, the
saloon, the theatre, the race track, the
circus, which to the Christians of the
earlier days of the present century
wgre considered sinful tilings, are
more or less visited by professing
Christians everywhere, and such is the
low standard of the church that it is a
rare thing for one to be excommunicated,
especially if he has a stiff bank
account and possesses influence in the
community.
There never was a time when so many
revolting crimes were committed as
at present; and what makes it so fearful,
to the contemplative mind, is the
fact that, especially in the larges cities,
the officers of the law are not unfrequently
controlled by the most vicious
elements of society, to the extent, in
some instances, of putting the quiet
and orderly portion of the community
iu the power and under the control of
that vicious elemeut.
To our mind the church of God is in
the midst of a great peril, and unless
there is a speedy return to those bolder
methods which in all ages have overcome
the wickedness of the wicked,
spirituality, in the church, will ere
long be a thing of the past.
- * * - ?1 1 lU*
There is no aanger uuu wuat wc
Church will be strong numerically. It
was so in the days of our Lord, yet it
was the church of that day that cried
out: "Crucify Him I Crucify Him!"
The church in these days, just as it
was in those, is very popular. It is respectable
to belong to the church.
People get into good society by joining
the church, and when they join they
want a line edifice in which to meet,
and an eloquent preacher to tell them
all about the sciences and the arts, and
quote from the old poets and orators of |
"ye ancient days," and now and then, ,
by way of diversion, to pitch into Mornionisin
and cannibalism.
We have good preachers, but is it not
to be feared that, instead of leading the |
people to a higher life, the people?the ;
worldly-minded, theatre-going, ballgoing,
circus-going saloon-going people?are
leading the preachers down to
their level, ami compelling them to
walk in the counsel of the ungodly? [
Reader, what do you think of thesigns
of the times? j
The Summit or Perfection.
It is a good thing to be at the top,
but in religion the bottom is the top. 1
Humility is perfection. The valley is
the highest point. But this summit is
not found in sweet frames, strong pro- 1
Cessions, nor rapturous heights. Per- 1
fection has a unique test, it is found in 1
an out of the way place. Friends do '
not test it. but our foes do; enemies 1
;iid us iii scaling these blessed
heights. He who is not strong
enough, not brave enough, not good '
enough to have enemies will scarcely
rise to this lofty eminence. Summon
your bitterest foes, the one who hates 1
you, curses you, despitefully uses and <
persecutes you, and as you, look on ]
him and think of all his meanness, i
how do you feel and act toward him? i
This is tlic test. This is the divinity <
and incomparable excellence of our I
holy religion. Our enemies become :
the ladder by which we mount to this
heavenly summit.
"Love your enemies, bless them that (
curse you, do good to them thai hate ?
you and pray for them which despite- '*
fully use you, and persecute you."
This is "the highest point. This is '
the Law. This is perfection. The
perfection of humility, the perfection
i)f love, (Jod-likc and divine. I
The Western Presbyterian has the (
following good-humored hit: "Our 1
good friends of the .Seventh Day Bap- (
list persuasion are in a dilemma. One 1
of their doctrines is that only 144,000
souls will be saved. But their body \
has grown much that now their own i
L'ommunicants number lo0,()()0. They ]
will either have to purge their rolls, or |
apply to some legislative power, as one
i>f our colleges has recently done, for a
I'hange of*charter that the unexpected *
returns may be utilized." * *
'
' ' ' J Z>. y,r
Be Kind to the Children. 3
The stumbling effect which even
slight inconsistencies of conduct , may
have upon the young and tender, ia an <
added reason for that watchfulness
which our Saviour enjoined upon bis
disciples. A somewhat amusing JHua? ^
tration of this was furnished by a clerr
gyman of nervous temperament, .who ,
sometimes became quite vexed by finding
his httle grand-children in his
study. One day one of these little chU; : ** j
dren was standing by his mother's sjde >Jjj
and she was speaking to him of* hea- ' |
ven.
"Ma," said he, "I don't, want to'go - ^
to heaven."
"jjo not want to go to neaven, my
son ?,,
"No. Ma, I'm sure I don't"
"Why not, my son?"
"Why grandpa will be there, won't "//Pi
he?"
"Why, yes, I hope he will." * a
"Well, as soon as he sees us, he will
come scolding along, and say, 'Whew,
whew, what are these boys here for?'
I don't want to go to heaven, if grand- .v'M
pa is going there."
Personal Contact.
One of ourrecent journals made aliosion
to the fact that Helen Chalmers, a .
daughter or grandaughter of the great J$jj?
Scotch divine, makes her residence -&Js
among the lowest of the poor in Edinburgh,
tbat she may do what she can '
to reclaim fallen men and women. ' ^
This topic came up for discussion In ;'/$&
one of our city parlors not long ago,
and one of che ladies interested in if. ' %
insisted that there is as much need of ,
mission work among what are known
as the higher classes as among the "''p
lower classes; that there is as much
moral degradation among so-called refined
and educated people as among
the "great unwashed;" and that, a
young lady who wishes to elevate her
kind need not descend from her station
in life, however lofty, to find chances to -yf
raise the fallen, to hft the degraded, to .
instruct the ignoraut, to enlighten the . ;\i|
benighted.
Those who are familiar with what If#
is called the "best society" indorse this
view, and we commend it to such as J $
are eager to go where they cannot go? Wjffl
to foreign lands or to the alams of out fijg
cities?and commend them to begin iff
just where they are, with their nearest -&j
and dearest, and by precept, if precept
witl be recieved, but always by exam
pie, show what Christianity can do In
elevating, transforming, regenerating, . ' $
and purifying the human soal.
Suspicions.?There are many suspi- ,
clons that nead crushing in the bud.
We fancy our friend is cool to us; wfe
imagine some one has slighted us ; we
suspect our neighbor of having spoken V' vl
ill of us. Most likely we are mistaken,
and, in any case, we could never profi- ' ?-at
tably search in to the matter. Ourtrost
in our friend or our own self-respect sa
should lead us to put away such
thoughts, to abandon such suspicions.
Some one has perhaps dropped a pofa- "|y
onous word of scandal into our ears? 8
let us banish itfrom our thoughts with
scorn. Circumstances may tend to
cast suspicion on one whom we honor
?let us continue to trust him in oar 'yM
heart of hearts. We may fear that
some one has committed afault, which, . '-i
however, does not concern us in the
least, and in which we are not called
upon to interfere?let us expel the .
idea as an unwelcome intruder.
The mind wants steadying and setting
right many times a day. It re
sembles a compass placed on a rickety
table?the least stir of the table makes -ij
the ueedle swing round and point un? 3
true. Let it settle till it points aright
Be perfectly silent for a few moments,
thinking about Jesus ; there is almost
a divine force in silence. Drop the
thing that worries, that excites, that
interests, that thwarts you; let it fall
like a sediment to the bottom, until ,y
the soul is no longer turbid, and say,
secretly: "Grant, I beseech thee, mer- . *
ciful Lord, to thy faithful servant pardon
and peace; that I may be cleans- 4 v
ed from all my sins, and serve thee :
with a quiet mind I"
He who desires to become a spiritual ?#
man must not be ever taking note of
others, and, above all, of their sills, *
lest he fall into wrath and bitterness,
and a judging spirit towards his neighbors.
O children, this works such
great mischief in a man's soul as it is
miserable to think of; wherefore, as
you love God, shun this evil temper, 1 :
and" turn your eyes full upon yourselves,
and see if you cannot discover
the same fault in yourselves, either'in
times past or nowadays.
Stockings.?If a lining of firm
cloth is sewed inside the heels of stockings
when they are new, or when they
begin to show signs of wear, they will
last much longer than if this is omit- vi
ted. Rather better than lining them
with cloth is running them up and
down with double yarn of darning cotton.
Stockings defended in this way * -X
require little attention each week when
they come from the laundry. Show
this to your wife.
The Check Rein.?If you care for
Hip mm fort of vour horses take ofl* all
Ihe check-reins and destroy them.
Nature knows how a horse ought to
hold his head. The check-rein is torture
and barbarism. No matter what *
pise you fornet about a horse, remem- / -.
ber t'liis. You can't forget it anywav;
mid even if you keep on the checkrein
after this you will never look at it
without knowing that you are doing a
3ruel thing. hies
BoiiiKi) Tongue.?A tongue which
has not been dried will require very
little soaking, but if dried it should he
soaked in water for several houre; then ?
put into cold water and boiled gently
until a broom straw will readily pierce
it. Then remove it from the kettle and
i>(Tthe skin. A tongue requires from
three to four houre' slow simmering
wcordiug to its size.
A Good way to arrange fruit in a
lish for an ornamental piece, is to seta
jlass tumbler in the centre of the diah,
iround and over it put a thick layer of
noss; then not nearly so much fruit
will be required, and it can be arranged
very handsomely.
To have cheese-cloth curtains retain
:heir creamy look, put a little strong
?offee or saffron tea into the water in
which they are rinsed ; lace can begivm
the same creamy hue by the same
process.
Sir Peter Lely made it a rule never
;o look at a bad picture, having found
?y experience that whenever he did so,
lis pencil took a hint from it. Apply
:his to bad books and bad company.
*2
Never mix wood ashes with manure
if any kind, but apply it to the land
separate and alone.
ilia